FCCJ’s North
Campus will host Brian Jay
Corrigan on Sept. 30.
He was in the running to play Luke
Skywalker series, but had to settle on being a playwright, actor of other
parts, and prize-winning novelist (for The Poet of Loch Ness). His
talk, which will be free to the public, will be at 10 a.m.
that Friday in the Zeke Bryant Auditorium.

(For directions to
North Campus, go to MapsQuest and look up 4501
Capper Rd., Jacksonville, FL.)
Link to Mapquest

Corrigan has been
writing stories since childhood and won his first national award at
seventeen (with a full-length play entitled The Sound of the River). His
work is suffused with richly drawn characters, evocative settings, and
"lushly lyrical" writing. He has led an exciting life. >From beginning as
an actor, playwright, and professional daredevil, he has grown into a
globe-trotter and internationally recognized expert in Renaissance
literature.

Corrigan's love of
life and his devotion to literature enriches his novels. Perhaps he was
destined to become a writer of deeply moving, profoundly beautiful love
stories. His personal background is filled to overflowing with drama and
richness.

Corrigan comes
from a long theatrical background. His great-grandparents owned a
traveling tent show. His grandmother was a professional dancer and one of
Kansas City's Tower Adorables--the
Midwest's answer to the Rockettes--during the "Roaring" decade of
gangsters and gun molls. His mother grew up on the stage, danced with Vera
Ellen, appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, and made Hollywood movies.

He followed the
family profession, writing plays and acting professionally. When he was
not gainfully employed on the legitimate stage, he filled the time
performing a Houdini-style magic act. He has been handcuffed and thrown
into rivers and straitjacketed and raised a hundred feet by his ankles. He
has also acted on stage with Katharine Hepburn and read twice for the part
of Luke Skywalker.

He returned to
college in his early twenties, studied Shakespeare, and graduated with
honors in just three years. He next went to Tulane
University where he studied law and Renaissance literature and, in the
short span of six years, earned a J.D., M.A., and Ph.D.

Today, he is
professor of Renaissance literature in the University system of
Georgia. He is also a world-known expert in Shakespeare and has delivered
lectures at the Shakespeare Association of America, the International
Shakespeare Conference, and at the Shakespeare Institute,
Stratford-upon-Avon.

He is an animal
lover who surrounds himself with cats, dogs, and horses.

He is a horse
trainer (resistance-free, of course), rides dressage, and was once a
nationally ranked fencer (foil and epee).

His prize-winning
novel was selected a 2005 "Notable Title" by Book Sense and the
Independent Booksellers of America and was named by the Associated Press
as "one of the five most notable debuts of 2005."

In the Kansas City Star, John Mark
Eberhart said, "[T]his is a mysterious love story fused with a legend . .
. That feeling wells up in The Poet of
Loch Ness thanks to Corrigan's ethereal prose . . . 'People who
believe in soul mates . . . should read this book.'"

Carol Haggas in Booklist said, "The magic and
mystery of the Scottish Highlands come together in this opulent, elegiac
tale of lost love and renewed desire . . . Corrigan is the true poet here,
rhapsodically combining the taut foreboding of a thrilling mystery, the
ethereal caprice of a legendary fantasy, and the lyrical emotion of a
poignant romance in this stunning debut novel."

"I always get up and make a cup of coffee while it is still dark – it must
be dark - and then I drink the coffee and watch the light come. ...
Writers all devise ways to approach that place where they expect to make
the contact, where they become the conduit, or where they engage in this
mysterious process. For me, light is the signal in the transition. It's
not being in the light, it's being there before it arrives. It enables me,
in some sense.”

Is your membership current? If you are receiving a paper version (sent to
those without e-mail), you may check the mailing label to see if your dues
are current. If it says "0104" next to your last name, your membership
expired in January 2004. You do not have to pay back dues to activate your
members, so, if you last paid in 1992 or 2002, don't worry about the
months you were inactive.

When you attend a meeting of the North Florida Writers, you eventually
discover that NO ONE has ever died while his or her manuscript was being
read and critiqued. You may be ready to face the ordeal yourself. . .or,
reading this, you may wonder what exactly takes place during a critiquing.

First, you pitch your manuscript into a stack with others'
works-in-progress. Then one of the NFW members hands out each piece to
volunteer readers, taking care NOT to give you back your own manuscript to
read.

Second, as the reading begins, each author is instructed NOT to identify
himself or herself and especially NOT to explain or defend the work. The
writer may never have heard the piece read aloud by another's voice, so
the writer needs to focus on the sound of his or her sentences.

Third, at the finish of each selection, the NFW members try to offer
constructive advice about how to make the story better.

If a section was confusing or boring, that information may be helpful to
the author.

The NFW will listen to 10 pages (double-spaced) of prose (usually a short
story or a chapter).